Alere Secures Prestigious NCQA Accreditation for Wellness & Health Promotion

ATLANTA, Nov. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Alere(®) LLC, a leader of personal health support solutions to large employers and health plans, announced today that it is one of the first health management companies to receive the National Committee on Quality Assurance (NCQA) Wellness & Health Promotion (WHP) Accreditation. The independent evaluation from one of the nation's most respected quality measurement organizations helps to demonstrate Alere's ongoing commitment to providing the highest level of health and wellness programs to its customers.

An early adopter of the new accreditation, Alere in January submitted its wellness program to a comprehensive nine-month evaluation in seven areas - healthy weight maintenance, smoking cessation, encouragement of physical activity, healthy eating, stress management, management of alcohol consumption and depression screening. To support these health improvement areas, Alere provides unlimited one-on-one counseling via Health Coaching, online Healthy Living Programs, the Health and Productivity Assessment and access to comprehensive health information and resources.

To earn the accreditation, Alere had to submit six months of solid data and information demonstrating a strong infrastructure with effective policies and procedures and sound IT reporting capabilities that met the standards of the new accreditation program.

"We believe that one of the most important steps employers and health plans can take to improve the lives of their employees and members is to implement successful health and wellness programs," notes Ron Geraty, CEO of Alere. "Alere's comprehensive array of patient-centered health management services helps our clients to achieve their health and wellness goals."

"NCQA's Wellness & Health Promotion Accreditation requires organizations to demonstrate their compliance with well-defined standards and quality measures," said Margaret E. O'Kane, NCQA president. "The NCQA seal provides employers and consumers with the information they need to choose the best program in their markets." NCQA has accredited a total of 11 organizations (all of them 'early adopters') for its WHP Program, including Alere.

More than 77% of America's leading employers offer formal health and wellness programs(1). A growing number of employers are looking to organizations such as the NCQA to provide them with assurances that their wellness programs are meeting the highest level of quality and that they can deliver on promised outcomes, productivity improvements and cost savings.

About NCQA

NCQA is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations and recognizes physicians in key clinical areas. NCQA's HEDIS is the most widely used performance measurement tool in health care. NCQA is committed to providing health care quality information through the Web and media in order to help consumers, employers and others make more informed health care choices.

About Alere

Alere (www.alere.com) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Inverness Medical Innovations, Inc. (www.invernessmedical.com) (NYSE: IMA). Alere, a Latin verb, meaning "to care for" or "to support", offers the most patient-centered health management services available from a single provider in the industry. Alere(®) services provide health interventions that are designed for the entire lifespan from pre-cradle (high-risk pregnancy and NICU management) to end-of-life care (complex care) as well as the continuum of health from wellness (health and productivity programs) and prevention to total health management of the individual for those having various chronic illnesses.

© 2009 Inverness Medical. All rights reserved. Alere is a trademark of the Inverness Medical group of companies.

(1) 2008 Survey of Major U.S. Employers by the ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC), the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and IncentOne Inc (2008), Employee Health & Productivity Management Programs: The Use of Incentives. Survey conducted by Health2 Resources.

SOURCE Alere LLC